Dariusburst: Salvation
by Deposing Soldier
Summary: The great war against the Belser. What were the wishes of the people who perished, and what will the survivors wish for? Is the war as it seems, just a mere struggle against the fate of extinction? Find out in this interpretation of Dariusburst Chronicle Saviours!
1. Prologue 1 - Letter to old friend

**Preface:** Greetings everyone. This is a story that's based on the Dariusburst series, which is pretty much the period mark of the Darius franchise. Since I am writing this in my wee hours when my usual things are still being worked on, I have to apologize in advance that this won't be updated in a very high speed. And because some of the progressions and plot lines happen rather seperately from one another, some of the chapters will be rather short as a result. However, I do hope that anyone who reads this will have a good time getting introduced to the premise, with or without having prior knowledge of the series. Constructive or affectionate feedback is welcomed, though I can also take criticisms point blank.

 **Disclaimer : This is a work of fiction based on a digital property of Taito Corporation. The author does not monetize from the writings below and the story is compliant with the clause of Fair Use. Any characters, locations, events which are contained within are entirely fictional and merely coincidental if happened in real life under any form.**

 _A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away..._

 _Or so one would think. We people of Darian descent are fortunate and unfortunate both, in that we were kept alive by a cherished yet forbidden power. With the passage of time, us human brings suffer an increasing risk of being unable to fully comprehend our grave history with our oldest enemies. Our natural predators in the universe - the Belser, are always lying in wait before striking at us in a force so overwhelming that descendants of survivors would feel fear ingrained within their genes._

 _I am a historian and thus I know the importance of my writings here. It took years for me to fully study the Darian libraries for the most accurate archivings of the past available, and even from just mere texts, I could feel as if there's a Belser fleet in hiding, right above the skies. Thousands of years ago in the age of myths, stood a great kingdom of Amnelia. No physical evidence of its existence remained, though from oral accounts, passed down from one descendant to another and to this very day, it was said to be an empire that achieved a near Utopian state of development._

 _But such an empire was not without its enemies. If there were none within, then there would be ones without. The king during the time of the great apocalyptic war dubbed the enemies 'Thiima', which were said to be much more dangerous than the Belser we dealt with. I immediately shuddered at the graphic and violent retellings of the strength these 'Thiima' displayed, but I kept my own wits throughout the accounts. Before the king passed away, he managed to produce a crucial system that turned the tide of the entire war: ALL-NOTHING Drive._

 _And thus, the first pair of Silverhawks were born. Christened by royal blood, prayed upon by Amnelian people, crafted by the empire's greatest minds, and flown by pilots incapable of shouldering the burden of reconstruction, the spacecrafts proceeded to fight back the swarms of 'Thiima' in a strength never possible before. But it was a double edged sword, for the A.N Drive in question was a risky product in itself with outcomes not yet known in its creation. As the name suggests, the A.N Drive tapped into dimensional energies existing between existing matter and non-existing matter, or anti-matter. This herculean task, handled as a mere engine for the Silverhawks, was a reckless move in all respects. One could even say that they were embodiments of a literal all or nothing gamble._

 _Regardless of the details, the Silverhawks had won the great war and the Amnelia Empire prevailed, but at the cost of Silverhawks themselves and the lives of the pilots in tow. It was said that their last battle was against the flagship of 'Thiima' on its retreating course, and their last known location was where planet Darius would later come to be named. In other words, our ancestors came to settle on a planet they did not even know, and just after the valiant pilots of the first Silverhawks found it. Ever since then, the 'Thiima' were never to be seen again, but in their place, the Belser would attack us later._

 _Planet Darius was not without its mysteries. It was civilized before the forementioned pilots located it, and there was almost no life. As for what happened to those Silverhawks and the pilots themselves, the widely agreed theory regarding them suggested that the A.N Drive was overworked after a series of battles against the 'Thiima', and as a result, the spacecrafts imploded. A tragic end that would never be repeated by our Darian ancestors in their fight against the Belser and their creation of the next generation of Silverhawks a couple of millenia later._

 _Their fight against the Belser was so fierce that the once fertile state of the planet was gone. Deemed too barren to support life, they migrated to planets Orga and Vadis later, and our ancestors spreaded out to other star systems on their own. At some points, some of them returned to Darius once it became fertile again, and planet Earth, which was home to the mythical Amnelia Empire whose scientifical progress was ahead of its time. While our most recent battle against the Belser happened only 90 years earlier at planet Earth's system on a relatively smaller scale compared to recorded history, we cannot afford to let down our guard._

 _We are now cosmic inhabitants of around 3000 star systems and in an age of great prosperity, but we must not forget that each and every time we fought back against the Belser, we would come too close to the verge of extinction. The Belser are not merely gigantic mechanical marine life, created for the sake of appearances. Underneath their armor and firepower lie something living like biological organs, or at the very least, cybernetical equivalents thereof. If our universe is not big enough for both us and Belser, and the Amnelian Empire could not hold them back with their science without significant losses, then we must do our best to keep our youths educated and up to speed regarding science, physics and cosmic aptitude._

 _I'm wrote this to you, old friend, so that you can understand the significance of the compilations attached to this letter._

Excerpt of Professor Callaway Dinsmark, First Vadis University, written to his friend Professor Eustace Palefoid, Year 1903, 1st of May.


	2. Prologue 2 - The start of a Legend

Inside a barely lit room with the walls covered in monitor displays, a figure resembling a young teenage girl was lying on a bed as if in the middle of sleep. The bed, intentionally positioned at the middle of the room's floor, made way for the numerous wirings of the computer systems to go under the bed. The monitors were showing various readings: average and seperate pulse rates throughout the times of the day, caloric intakes and metabolism ratings, brain activity indications and more.

The girl herself was wearing a dress which seemed to be made of kevlar, giving off a coarse texture. Her blonde hair was down to the middle of her back in length, and her upper face was covered by a headgear which resembled a virtual reality device. The straight posture of her feet and how the way her hands placed together on top of her abdomend would do little to convince other people that she's even human.

Should anyone ever guess that she wasn't a human being, they would be right. On a monitor with heat signature readings, her name was displayed: Ti2.

The only door to the room was a sliding door, which opened up due to the password input by a scientist. A brusque looking woman whose physical age was estimated to be in the thirties had her features illuminated once she took 3 steps into the room, causing the lights on the ceiling to turn on automatically. The scientist had long black hair done in a ponytail behind her, and an ample looking upper body with an hourglass figure. Her white coat was worn loosely to show off the red shirt she wore under it. Her black colored frilly skirt gave off the impression of a rebellious past.

When her green colored eyes looked straight to Ti2 the girl, she walked over in her low heel shoes loud enough to have footsteps resonate in the room. With a rather uncaring tone, she used her right pointing finger to poke on Ti2's smooth right cheek while saying "Hey, birthday cakes. Wake up."

Silence returned to the room after that short sentence.

Annoyed, the scientist sighed and sat down on the unoccupied edge of the bed. "Don't make me wake you up by forcing a video of Saturday Night Live to your brain."

Immediately, Ti2 moved her hands and took the headset off of her head with blue eyes wide open. Judging from her facial expression, Ti2 had a neutral impression of the scientist.

"Doctor Tau. What business do you have with me during my designated reboot time frame?" Ti2 inquired with a voice befitting of a child.

"I'm only 2 hours early, tweety." Dr. Tau replied in a subdued tone of playfulness, "Most of the people are still asleep, and I was woken up earlier than now just to deliver you a very sudden news."

"Am I being restationed?" Ti2 inquired.

"Yes. A 'stable build' has finally arrived from the factory. Orders from higher up are to have you become the 10th designated test pilot for it, and, should they will it, you will have to be its permanent pilot and become enlisted as a formal space pilot." Dr. Tau explained with a forlorn look on her face.

"...I see..." Ti2 responded hesitantly.

"You have an attachment to this place?" Dr. Tau asked with a nonchalant chuckle, "All we have here in Tiat Space Headquarters is that we have a group of crackpots being your friends on a payroll. Myself included."

"I'm not sure attachment is the correct choice of words. However, I can determine that I'll have some semblance of nostalgia should I think back after some time." Ti2 smiled.

"Same here. I've been calling you birthday cakes because the first thing you wanted after coming to this base is something that can help you commemorate the first year cycle since your creation. You asked around, and I suggested a cake. You ate it with such a blissful expression on your face we can't help but trying to push that to be a part of the world records." Dr. Tau laughed in recollection.

"Even though I'm an android..." Ti2 made a sad smile at that.

"It's -because- you're an android." Dr. Tau sighed, "You can call me by my name. I'd like to be a better friend just for today, if possible."

"Then, Selenis..." Ti2 got off of the bed and looked back at Selenis Tau's eyes, "...if I want to be recognized as a person, and I want to have a name, will that be selfish of me?"

"Some will definitely think so. But then again, all things living would be selfish at some points an in varying degrees. I can totally understand the need to have a proper name instead of codename." Selenis smiled at the question, "But only share your name with who you trust. 'Tie-Two' would have to be your official one for time being."

"Then what do you like to call me besides birthday cake?" Ti2 asked, "Because Tweety isn't exactly a good one."

"A new name huh. Well, that's a hard one..." Selenis slowly walked towards the door, "While you come up with one yourself, do get changed to your flying outfit by 10 minutes later and report to the airstrip. The ones at the hangar are making system checks and are learning their ways around this new craft."

"Affirmative." Ti2 nodded once.

======= 

It was 20th of October in Year 1903 of Darian Calendar. On planet Darius, the most prestigious military base of the galaxy was located here. Tiat Headquarters is known and referred to by several names due to the fact that it handled several divisions at once. Research & development, combat deployment, military training, and weapons testing. As a hub for tactical knowledge and information, this base was the forefront of all efforts to combat the Belser.

At 7AM in the morning, Ti2 made her way to the runways as instructed while wearing something that wouldn't look out of place as a normal citizen, but was in fact a combat garment. On Ti2's forehead was a headgear which looked like a camera, and on top of her head was a headband with a pair of triangles which resembled cat ears. Her short sleeved shirt was matte black, which matched with her shorts. The white socks and red shoes would serve no other function than to look decent.

It had been approximately 8 months since she was transferred here from somewhere else, and to everyone, she was an android with a mind of her own. In such a world and society, artificial intelligences are referred to as artificial individuals, and no matter their form, there was still a gap between them and human beings. Although they could socialize with each other, they would not be able to trust each other mutually. There were cases where non-humans would make wrong judgements, and there were cases where humans would harbor prejudice against other beings. In Ti2's mind, she was considering not just when to trust another human, but also -how-.

It wasn't that Ti2 didn't trust Selenis Tau. It was that there was a gap between her and Selenis' group of scientists responsible for her 'maintenance'. Those thoughts were interrupted when a spacecraft was taken out of a hangar by several crew members using tow vehicles. As if she's mentally linked to be attracted to the spacecraft, her legs moved ahead of her judgement.

Frontal pointed fins, red colored fuselage, and multi-angle movement thruster nozzles. Ti2's eyes were wide from inspecting the various details of this spacecraft, but there was one thing she knew evern without knowing everything.

"Silver...hawk..."


	3. Chapter 1 - Blackout

The human race and the Belser are naturally opposed existences. If one were to put them on a biology class, the humans would be the prey, and the Belser the predators. Prey and predators cannot hope to coexist without mutual confrontation, but must coexist all the same, and that would be where the relationship stops. For one, Belser do not treat humans as actual food, but something they must wipe out just for the sake of it. Because of this, humans would always try to destroy any Belser they encounter in retaliation. This kind of relationship where neither are willing to let the other live has already exceeded the definitions of predator and prey.

It was now Darius Year 1904, and more than 3000 years since humans were first toppled from their position as an apex predator.

Some say that, if not for the Amnelian War, humans would never become who they currently are. Thousands of years ago on planet Earth, before there was a globally unified state, there was an era of false peace, where nations of humans would scheme to attain higher standing over one another or seek war with one another. Without predators to keep humans in check, humans would predate upon each other's interests, lives and living spaces. Perhaps just the fact that 'we are not alone' was enough to plant a new priority in their lives which would be carried over for generations.

This wasn't something that needed to be taught. After many years of passing the tales down, all humans knew that there should only be 3 core benefits for survival:

Prepare against extraterrestrial threats

Strive to push scientific progress

Seek new frontiers in outer space

Hyperspace travel and communications allowed humans to reach and communicate one another with ease. The days of 'HTTP based internet' and space shuttles had become relics of the past, serving as foundations for current technologies and advances. With hope that even those could be pushed further into greater forms, humans had been doing their best to set their more selfish desires aside in favor of outcomes that could benefit the entire race. Not for profits and glory, but simply for future survival. One's achievements were everyone's achievements. One's tragedies were everyone's tragedies. Without borders and differences, humans became more ubiquitous to one another so that they could focus on the 3 core benefits.

Even so, there must always be secrets. The possibility of Belser spying on humans as a whole was not something people could just rule out, which was why most of the inner workings of the military command bases were not disclosed to the general public.

2nd of May, Year 1904

Black colored fleets of military battleships were patrolling around the galaxy, in search for possible threats or traps employed by the Belser. Ever since the last major clash against the Belser fleets a few hundreds of years ago, humans had amassed enough resources to build warships and protective convoys meant for interplanetary protection and transportations in great quantities. The average production speed of each planet was 20 battleships and 10 Type-Origin and Type-Second Silverhawks per year. Without counting the approximately 2000 star systems which had no inhabitable planets, the total production rate of all systems combined was around several thousands of different types of space warships and Silverhawks per year.

The reason why the amount of Silverhawks produced would be lower than battle fleets, despite being much smaller in mass and size, was due to quality control. Unlike entire fleets of large ships, only the Silverhawks can truly stand a chance against Belser. No matter the firepower and reserves, a battleship cannot hope to compete with a Belser counterpart in terms of mobility and firepower both. In contrast, a Silverhawk can take on small and large targets alike with superior mobility and combat effectiveness. But in exchange, the quality of pilots must be narrowed and refined, while the production steps of a Silverhawk would have to be error-proof.

Due to the lack of Belser sightings and signs of combat, the process of pilot selection was undergoing the slow and steady process of candidacy and conscription. It was not as if Silverhawks were the only things humans would depend on. Should the pilots who did not qualify for piloting Silverhawks wish for military service, they could apply to pilot mass-produced space fighters which, while lacking the sufficient means to penetrate Belsar battleship armor, could help destroy the smaller Belser fighters instead, or engage in combat support in tandem with battleships. The materials needed to build each Silverhawk were precious, so it was understandable for the Silverhawk pilot selection process to be arduous.

But this formula could not be counted on for good. Sooner or later, the Silverhawks would need an upgrade, and the pilots needed to pilot those upgraded Silverhawks would have to be on a different league.

And for that reason, this black fleet was flying out in this hapless region of outer space in the sea of cosmos.

Inside a carrier, the crew were walking around the corridors with an excited expression on their faces. They were excited about the 'cargo' which they were tasked to carry and protect. It was not hard to understand why.

The cargo was, in fact, two brand new Silverhawk models meant for a combat test flight, before getting taken apart in other star systems to begin research and mass production.

In the cafeteria, Ti2 the blonde haired android pilot was eating a small bowl of mashed potatoes, using a spoon. It was topped with different kinds of sauces, so that Ti2 could taste the flavors with a serious expression on her face. The moment she closed her lips with a spoonful of the mashed potatoes inside her mouth, her face went from serious to cute in almost no time at all. It was as if tears could leak out of the edges of her eyes. When the crew at other tables looked at the scene, they could not help but chuckle at Ti2's reaction to the mashed potatoes' flavor.

Meanwhile, a tall man with a blonde crewcut in a blue colored pilot suit came to sit at the same table as Ti2. He took the opposite seat so he could look at her face to face while eating a bow of what could be described as caviar and rice. He had a scar on the left side of his face, going from the forehead to the left cheek, past his left eye which looked to be cybernetic. Unlike most others, his skin was rather tanned.

"Are you the pilot for that red Hawk?" The man asked.

"Lieutenant Riga Practica, I presume? I suppose I am." Ti2 answered after taking the spoon out of her mouth.

"I wasn't aware that androids have to eat human foods." Riga Practica spoke with a look of intrigue.

"There are no laws stating that food can only be eaten by humans alone." Ti2 deadpanned.

"You got me there." Riga chuckled while nodding candidly, "Tactical Intelligence Drone, Category Two. T I 2, for short. I was expecting someone less adorable and more imposing. I can only hope you're up to the task."

"Your concern is appreciated, but I can tell you that I don't need patronizing. My appearances should not have any relation to my ability to fly." Ti2 replied with a confident grin, and then she looked at Riga's caviar rice, "Aren't you going to eat?"

"I was about to." Riga laughed.

After half a minute of eating, Ti2 placed her hands on top of each other on the dining table and looked into Riga's eyes, "If I'm not mistaken, you were the 8th test pilot for code Legend. A particular flight test gave you that facial injury."

"Mmmmh *gulp*" Riga closed his eyes for a brief moment and swallowed his food, "I'm living with that experience. Thanks for taking note of that specific event in my life."

"I'm not trying to question your ability to pilot the Next. I just want you to be careful, that's all..." Ti2 looked away.

"Yeah... trying to pull off the anti-Burst procedure wrong can lead to this." Riga touched his own scar as he frowned, "Good thing it was just practice. I would've been long dead if it was from a Belser."

"Right..." Ti2 looked back to the mashed potatoes in front of her and continued to eat it.

"I wasn't expecting the headquarters to come up with the Next though. They're calling it a Silverhawk as well, but the shape and form looks completely different from the conventional ones. That's a more surprising arrangement compared to you." Riga smiled as he thought out loud.

"They did it in honor of your efforts, Mr. Practica. Since the Legend is not yet deemed safe for human piloting, they thought it to be prudent to produce a different model meant for human use and improved safety. The Mark IV Wave Rifle mounted at the bottom of the ship gives it a solid edge in addition to the onboard vulcans and laser guns." Ti2 commented.

"I can argue that the Burst system is a bit too hard to use. Can you tell me as to the reason for its current state?" Riga inquired.

"While I'm not privy to the details, I suspect that it has something to do with attaining the combat edge we used to have in the days of Amnelian War. To my knowledge, the Amnelian Silverhawks used to battle their enemies by turning their own attacks against them. The Burst system operates on a similar level. However, the attacks we can use against the Belser are limited, and we have to check the readings to make sure which ones are compatible." Ti2 replied.

"Like Tai Ji, huh? Borrow the force to strike back..." Riga grinned, "Well, I've been fly-testing the Next for a month now. I should be able to deliver good results in practical tests."

"You better. One does not simply replace pilots after they're killed." Ti2 nodded.

"Hey, look at them hitting off~"

"Yeah. I didn't know he's such a lolicon."

"Daddy has a thing for young girls~"

As the other crew jested, Ti2 lowered her head in embarassment while Riga turned to them with a murderous glare. His left, cybernetic eye glowing in blue was enough to give off the impression of a 'Terminator'. To that, they backed away when they felt that Riga was about to stand up.

"If this were one of those cliched anime, this would be the part where I'd follow up with a tearful look and accuse you of being a skirt chaser, Mr. Practica." Ti2 sighed.

"Do you even -want- to do that?" Riga sat down and gave Ti2 a questioning look, "Anyway, since we'll be flying together, I look forward to it."

As Riga extended his right hand covered in the pilot suit's glove, Ti2 offered her bare right hand for a shake.

At that instant, her face was struck with horror.

"Is something wrong?" Riga asked.

"The network... It's silent." Ti2 stood up.

Communications were down, and all around them, the crew were experiencing the inability to reach into the internet with their portable devices. Murmurs were filling the air and the atmosphere became tense with unease.

"This isn't an ordinary outage caused by a dimension quake. I can feel it with my antennae." Ti2 continued, "I could feel as if there was something out there, breaking through the entire network and shut it all down..."

Gulping down his saliva, Riga stood up without finishing his meal, "Do you need to connect with the network personally for your duties?"

"Yes. Tiat military base has to go through me in order to send the blueprints for our Silverhawks later. If I'm right about this network attack, they're finally coming..." Ti2 shuddered.

"Who?" Riga asked.

In that instant, the intercom of the carrier was playing out the speech of the vice captain.

 _"All hands to battle stations! 3 ships of the fleet have already sunk! This is not a drill! Prepare for anti-Belser warfare procedures!"_

"Oh hell no..." Riga grimaced at the announcement, "Let's run to our Hawks. For better or worse, we should start up the engines by ourselves."

"...Yes." Ti2 nodded and started to run ahead of him towards the hangar.


	4. Chapter 1a - Ambush

Ti2 was the pilot for Silverhawk codenamed Legend, whose outer frame resembled the head of a hawk, given the shape of the windscreen and front cone. Legend had wingspan-based propulsion systems besides the main multi-angle thruster on the back of the craft. The thruster, locking points and the front pointed wing tips were painted silver, while the top canopy and the wing spans were painted red. At the hangar, it was held upright with a parking frame painted with yellow and black caution lines, complete with stairs which allowed its pilot to board it.

Riga Practica was the pilot for Silverhawk Next, whose outer frame would resemble some of the mass produced fighters in common service. Fitted with similar weapons to Silverhawks, it had a cockpit that was detachable from the main ship should its pilot need to escape. What set it apart were the aerodynamic rudder, and 2 pairs of wings. One pair on the horizontal sides of the craft, and another pair at the bottom sides, close to the output vector of its thruster. Another distinct trait of the Next was that it had a very visible cannon mounted at the bottom side of the craft. Most of the chassis was silver, though some parts were painted blue to set it apart even further.

Soon, the reverberating sounds of cannon fire could heard throughout the carrier's interior. Contrary to the state of the cosmos in the pre-space travel era, humanity's constant hyperspace travel and past resistances towards the Belser had seen to the increase of non-atmospheric gases. Had the outer space still been in vacumm state, the fleet would not be able to hear the course of battle.

But the situation was not faring well for the human fleet regardless.

What happened before the 3 ships were destroyed was that a dimensional quake took place, and out of the fissures of space, a swarm of Belser fighters sprung forth. Before the countless gray fighters even finished moving their formations out of the hyperspace, 3 massive blasts of energy came from the emerging warships. Each took out a frigate which, despite their fully powered shields, were consequently destroyed after depletion. Not all of Belser's combatants and weapons resembled marine life, and to attest to that, the source of the energy blasts appeared in the form of spiraling battle pillars with turrets mounted on them.

Not long after the carrier's captain called for all ships to enter battle formations, more dimensional quakes took place as if to cut off all available options for the fleet to fight back. The explosions of destroyed ships increased in number, and all of the crew were besieged with terror. The very thought that the Silverhawks they were carrying had left most of their minds, except for the hangar crew. Ti2 and Riga reached their respective pilot seats, but the preparations for launch were not complete as the working hands were all busy.

"We're still trying to do things by the manuals. I can only hope we make it in time for your launch." A middle aged mechanic remarked as he was in charge of monitoring the volume of flight fuel to be infused into the Next.

The cockpit glass of the craft wasn't closed, but Riga's fingers were very close to the button that would do it. "Don't miss a step now!" He urged loudly.

"Systems all green. Test mode diagnostics, all clear." Ti2 reported, "I'm ready on my end."

"Good for you. I can only say the same on my end for my Burst engine." Riga grumbled.

"The Burst system for Next is slightly different from Legend after all, but it shouldn't take that much longer." The mechanic replied, "Ok, all done. Now start it up and see if there's anything that needs fixing!"

"Alrighty then..." Riga took the helmet on his lap and put it on, causing the suit to form a protective balloon ring around his neck which connected to the edges of the helmet. He pressed on the activation buttons one after another, causing the main thruster behind the Next to glow in a green ring around the edge. Ti2 then closed the canopy of Legend and started up her craft as well. Since she was an android, she wouldn't need piloting outfits meant to protect humans.

Suddenly, an explosion that shook the entire carrier could be felt, and all the lights went from white to red in an instant. Alarms were ringing and the frames that were holding Legend and Next were shaking violently from the tremors.

"Aren't we cleared for take off yet?!" Riga screamed in desperation.

One of the crew then replied from a corner with the most severe news.

"There's no response from the bridge..."

"Dammit..." Riga cursed under his breath before closing up the cockpit.

However, that was not the end of the ordeal. Another impact much greater than the last took place, and it felt as if the entire hangar was spinning around. Riga closed his eyes in order to stop his whole self from being overwhelmed by inertia.

After 10 seconds, the G-force of the spinning dimished. When Riga opened his eyes, he could only widen his eyes in terror.

Right next to his Next, the Hangar was split from the entire carrier. It had been split in two by a powerful attack, and the dozens of hangar crewmen perished in that very instant. All of them didn't even have the time to evacuate through the airlock doors, much less putting on space suits. Riga's eyes were then burned by the images of asphyxiating people.

Ti2 took action. She fired the wingtip vulcans at the launch barriers in order to make way for launch. This course of action inspired Riga to do the same with the wave rifle, which produced green colored blasts that melted the barrier into a hole wide enough for launch.

With her eyes going from blue to red, Ti2 spoke with a voice of supressed rage, "Silverhawk Legend, purging restraints. Engaging."

"Where are you going? Hey!" Riga asked through the communications before doing the same, casting off the parking frame around the Next.

Ti2's eyes looked at the holographic monitor for the frontal view of the Legend with great concentration. Fighting back the Belser was already on her mind and she had no intention to mourn for the loss of life that happened suddenly while her own survival was on the line. However, she still had the capacity to show concern for those that were still living. For time being, there was only one Riga Practica.

"Mr. Practica, are you able to fight? I propose we engage the Belser halting this fleet's advance together. Hopefully that can lead us all to escape through hyperspace." Ti2 inquired.

"I am, but I have a different strategy." Riga responded as he caught up to the speed of Legend's flight, "The Belser always fight near their battleships. We find the one that's in command, we crush it, and then the rest should scatter. We can't risk a prolonged escape."

"I agree. Shall we take flight together?" Ti2 asked.

"After you, my lady!" Riga replied in a firm tone hinting his determination to 'repay' the Belser for what just happened.

Without allies in front of their general direction, it meant that Ti2 and Riga could cut loose by using their strongest weapons from the start. Legend's wave lasers had a similar efficacy as the wave rifle of Next, which were fired from the 'beak' of the craft and tear through the schools of fighters. Ones which looked like arrow heads did not fire back, though they could be seen planting themselves into the hulls of battleships before self destruct. This suggested that they were mobile suicide units. The wave lasers, covering a circular area, tore through other arrow heads which did not make their mark. Dozens after dozens of them disintegrated into debris as a result.

Riga was targetting the types that could open fire with his Next. Along the sides of the craft were missile ports, which unleashed a salvo of missiles that were fast in reaching their targets. He followed up with a pincer attack by using the wave rifle and a Burst attack. Tapping into the hyperspace, the Next created 4 fins which appeared out of thin air and formed a ring. From the ring came an intense beam of light which melted through hundreds of small space fighters in a matter of seconds. The ring behind the beam of light channeled energy from Next's Burst engine, which allowed Riga to fight away from it. He could also adjust the direction of the beam through the use of secondary controls, which he did to great effect.

After making her way to the pillars, Ti2 unleashed her own Burst attack as well. Positioning the Legend's own fins around the front of the craft, Ti2 unleashed a thicker and more powerful beam attack than the disembodied type. The attack cut through the insides of each segment of a pillar before the entire thing was fully dismantled. Without stopping the attack, Ti2 adjusted the angle of attack to wipe out formations of fighters and several flying bunkers that were firing laser shots. As the Burst engine energy was sourced partly from fallen Belser, Ti2 could keep up with the attack so long as Belser numbers were being reduced around Legend.

Following Ti2's pace, Riga entered a fissure with her. Inside the realm, he proceeded to open fire on approaching formations before coming across what seemed to be a mechanized incarnation of an anglerfish with black coloring, larger than Legend and Next combined. Its lightbulb fired off spreads of projectiles while its mouth produced orbiting metal urchins as its outer layer produced missiles.

"Is that the culprit?" Riga asked.

"Unlikely. My knowledge base suggests that it's only a captain class entity. In charge of formations, but not an entire assault." Ti2 replied factually.

As Ti2 fired wave shots to destroy the urchins while evading the missiles by several metres from their flying directions, Riga aimed at the anglerfish entity before unleashing the fully powered Burst beam which Ti2 just did. Rupturing from internal damages, the anglerfish spewed smoke from its mouth and cracks of its body, before exploding into pieces.

"Readings indicate that the real deal is not far ahead. Let's end this." Riga reported.

Quite soon,

alarms were sounding in the cockpits of Legend and Next.

When Riga looked at the interface, he could see the glowing letters of the alert.

 **WARNING**

A HUGE BATTLESHIP

 **IRON FOSSIL**

IS APPROACHING FAST


	5. Chapter 1b - Iron Fossil

In the vast ocean known as the cosmos, much of the space is weightless. However, the Belser 'swim' in the space and bodies of water all the same. To them, planets may very well be just shores with gravity.

When Iron Fossil made its appearance, the space around the Silverhawks immediately changed.

A dense purple fog heralded the coming of stormy 'waters'. Nebulous gases which would soon illuminate the features of the Belser battleship known as Iron Fossil. Lightning crack across great distances and below the Silverhawks, a large metallic Coelacanth swam upwards, blue in color and with sharp jaws. It was around 3 times larger than the anglerfish entity that came before.

"What in the...?!" Riga grimaced.

"There's a Burst coeffective cannon located at the middle of its tailfin, Mr. Practica! Get away!" Ti2 relayed.

Heeding to Ti2's warning, Riga flew aside with a barrel roll while Ti2 tried to move into Iron Fossil's field of view. However, staying alive was anything but easy for the both of them. Alongside Iron Fossil's blue body were large elongated hexagon scales, which concealed shrapnel projectors that it could use to repel pursuers. The scales flapped open slightly, and out came spread after spread of silvery white metal shards that were as wide as fire hydrants and as sharp as saw blades. In sufficient velocity, a single one could tear through metal platings.

Iron Fossil, in its course, released homing anchors as large as city vehicles. From the top and bottom of its living hull, the anchors flew in scramble course, but both Ti2 and Riga's gunfire managed to destroy them during their escape from the shard-like shrapnel. Turning around as if to give them a stare, Iron Fossil started to swim backwards, and its white tip of the head pointed at the Silverhawks, mechanic gaze from its eyes intensifying. The blue jaws and teeth opened up to release volleys of heavy round ammunition.

"This is different from training flight, alright!" Riga navigated himself between the shots as he shouted.

"I find your chatter to be sufficiently distracting." Ti2 added with a neutral expression on her face as she flew past Riga's ship to get closer.

Without hesitation, Ti2 opened fire. The sides of the cockpit were loaded with laser cannons, which were designed to deal extensive damage to Belser's internal mechanisms with penetration in mind. Pair after pair of bright yellow parallel laser beams went into Iron Fossil's mouth, dealing untold damage to its internal workings. But it wasn't a decisive blow, and the Belser were feared for this very reason. One may hit a weakpoint, but they would never go down easily.

"Targetting point set. Releasing Burst!" Riga announced as he released a detached ring with Burst beam focusing upon the left of Iron Fossil's hull. The scales of that side were glowing red from the heat and eventually broke down into blackened and charred tatters.

In a defiant display of struggle, Iron Fossil turned around and fired orange blasts of battleship cannon fire from the edges of its fins. With the tailfin firing the same cannons in different directions, it was trying to limit the directions the Silverhawk could travel. It was then both pilots were picking up an alarming signature gathering into the middle of Iron Fossil's tailfin.

Without realizing it, Next's Burst beam capacity was empty and the fins disappeared back into hyperspace arsenal.

"It's about to fire something huge, isn't it..." Riga inquired.

"I know, but I'm prepared." Ti2's focus was on the attack that was going to come.

The Belser battleship's main cannon would be powerful, but it would also come with signs. The cannon at the tailfin was converging internal and external energies, forming a bright pink accumulation. Preparing to counter such an attack, the Legend was made to deploy its fins around the front of the cockpit.

It was in this second that this fight was decided. In a bright blast of pink light, Iron Fossil unleashed a devastating anti-fleet cannon towards a Silverhawk. A fighter space craft. But Riga saw everything clearly from behind. When the flash of the cannon was great, the flash that came after would be much greater.

The moment Legend's fins 'received' the blast as Ti2's judgement allowed, a yellow flash not unlike a bolt of lightning, surged forth. It resonated with the ARM (Active Radial Mail) force field and the energy inside Burst engine to create a bright lightning blast which subsisted on Iron Fossil's attack.

The next few seconds saw to the defeat of Iron Fossil. Because it could not stop the discharge of its own attack, the cannon fueled the Legend's counterattack. Starting from the tailfin, then to the body, before the entire being. Iron Fossil went pink and red hot from being blasted by this intense attack, before glowing intensely from the core of its being... and exploded into a gigantic ball of flames.

Both Ti2 and Riga flew away far enough to avoid getting caught up in the shockwaves, but they could still experience the brightness of the explosion.

"...Wow, you did it." Riga panted after taking off his helmet inside the cockpit.

"No. -We- did it. Because of your decision to destroy the armanents of the left side it was forced to end the battle faster, which in turn allowed me to finish it off." Ti2 replied modestly.

As soon as the explosion died down, the surrounding space gradually returned to normal. Stars were visible again and the space seemed deep once more. The murky 'waters' that Iron Fossil brought with it were no more. However, the damage done to the fleet could not be taken away. Everyone among the patrol fleet had perished. It was just the two of them now, and they had to make their way back to planet Darius as fast as possible.

"I would like to tell you to stop putting yourself down, but I have an urgent suggestion." Riga spoke while putting his helmet back on, "I don't think we have the time to deal with stragglers here because we have to go back to central command, but since hyperspace network is down, we can't make accurate warps back. So, what do you think about that dimension tunnel they used?"

"Am I right in assuming that we should both use whatever the Belser used to get back to Darius bit by bit?" Ti2 inquired.

"You're right, but I need a second opinion." Riga lowered his voice due to his uncertainty.

"We might find other Belser battleships along the way, but even travelling this way is faster than not being able to warp." Ti2 nodded.

"It's decided then. We're going to use their tools before they get any wiser." Riga flexed his shoulders and pushed for Next to fly ahead.

However, they did not know that while they were fighting Iron Fossil, countless other star systems were falling under Belser control and domination. Their fight was only beginning...


End file.
